The 45th Game

I woke up and laid in bed for a minute. Something was weird. It was dead silent in my house. Usually my mom was up and yelling at everyone to get out of bed at the crack of dawn. But for some reason she wasn't today.

Then I remembered. It's Reaping Day.

Reaping Day was something that terrified everyone in District 7. For the parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, and even just family friends, the thought that one of the children you love could be taken away from you, most likely forever made them want to crawl into their beds and stay there for weeks. For the kids, it was the thought that two people were leaving today, at least one of them forever. They were someone we knew, possibly our best friend, but they were leaving us now and wouldn't be coming back. And if they did, they wouldn't be the same.

Every year for the past 4, I was terrified. Not only for myself, I hadn't entered the pool until 3 years ago, but for Bridget as well. Bridget was something of a wild card. She was my best friend, but even I didn't know what she would do on the reaping day. Especially last year, and probably this year again. You see, the year I entered the pool, her brother was chosen. It was his last year to be in the reaping. He didn't come back. And she was forced to watch every second of his death. He'd been ambushed while he was sleeping by a couple Careers. Thankfully, neither of them won. I don't know what Bridget would've done if they had and had come on the Victory Tour.

Now she hated the games, even more than before. She couldn't stand to watch the pain and the suffering and the senseless killing of kids. She usually sat in the corner of her house curled up into a ball with her hands clamped over her ears and her eyes screwed shut whenever they were on. She would try and tune out of everything, even me if I was there, because if she let one thing in, it would all come flooding in. And if the games got through to her, the screams and the blood, she would break into pieces. She would have a panic attack and end up being sick for days. Whenever this happened, she couldn't even get away from being forced to watch the games. Her dad made her watch, or at least be in the room when it was on. He wasn't a cruel man usually, but he had very strict rules. And when his son died, he became even more strict. Especially when the games were in play.

I got up and started to get ready for the long day ahead. I figured I'd just dress normally for now and come back home to get changed before we had to be in the square for the reaping. Bridge would probably want to run off some nerves in the woods before we got this hell started for the day, so that meant dirt and leaves everywhere. No, it wasn't a good idea to put my nice clothes on now.

Once I was dressed, I grabbed a small roll munch on as I headed to Bridget's house. She really was going to be a mess today, and I figured the longer I spent with her, the better off she'd be. She always said that I calmed her and that I was her sanity when she was about to lose it. So I did what I could to make sure she didn't, cuz if she lost it, it wasn't pretty. It usually meant a few things broken, possibly bones if someone got in her way. The only way to calm her down when she lost it was for me to grab her by the shoulders and talk to her until she calmed down. When she lost it, she couldn't see past her rage long enough to realize who was who and what they meant to her. One time, she even broke her brothers nose because he tried to calm her down. But somehow, I always got through to her. She always realized it was me just in time to pull her punches so that I didn't get hurt. She'd never hit me, even on accident. I guess it was just her instinct to protect me, and that meant not hurting me, so whenever it was me calming her down, she ended up being okay. It was weird. But I certainly did appreciate not getting punched, cuz from what I'd heard and seen, Bridge hit pretty dang hard.

When I got to her house, I went to knock on the door. Even before my hand hit the wood, the door opened. Bridge grabbed my hand so that it wouldn't end up hitting her in the head. She then let go of it and quickly slipped out the door and shut it gently behind her.

"He's still sleeping," she said monotonously.

"Makes sense," I said. "We probably should be too." I looked at her to see how she'd respond.

She looked at me with tired, empty eyes for a moment. "You know that I haven't slept in days, so what makes you think I could sleep today of all days," she asked me.

"I know," I said grabbing her hand and lacing my fingers through her. "I'm sorry."

She nodded her head once sharply to indicate she had heard me and accepted my apology.

After a moment of silence I asked "So what do you want to do?"

She just turned and started walking to the woods, dragging me by the hand.

"Alrighty then," I said.

After a couple hours of sitting in the woods doing nothing, I turned to Bridget.

"Bridge," I said softly. "Hun, we've gotta go back and get ready now."

She stood up robotically and started walking back towards the village. I followed concerned about her.

When we got to her house, we had about an hour left before we had to be in the square for the reaping. "Bridget," I said to her. She turned and looked at me with her dead eyes. "You get ready and I'm gonna go get ready. I'll come back here so we can walk together, okay?"

"Okay," she said in a trembling voice. She gave me a hug and buried her face in my chest. "Don't get picked Ef," she said so softly that I almost didn't hear her.

"I won't," I said stroking her hair. "I promise. Now go get ready," I said giving her a gentle shove towards her house.

Once she was inside, I went home and got ready. It took me about five minutes, so then I went back to Bridget's house. She was waiting outside sitting on the doorstep .

"You're gonna mess up your pretty dress," I told her while offering her my hand to help her up.

She stood up and looked me in the eyes. Her eyes weren't dead anymore, they were angry. "I don't care," she snapped. "They don't deserve our lives or us looking good. If they don't like it, they can go to hell."

Her change in attitude was surprising, but it was very refreshing. Now she was back to the Bridget I knew and got along with so well. She was usually very opinionated and out spoken, so when it changed for the games, it was always really weird and hard to deal with. I was glad she was back to normal, at least for now.

"Welcome back Bridge," I said smiling.

"Good to be back," she said. "I have a bad feeling about today, but I'm done sitting back and just taking the punches. I'm gonna throw some of my own now."

Her words kind of surprised me, but the general idea didn't. It was a very Bridget idea.

"Well then," I said with a smirk. "Let's go give em hell."

"Gladly," she said somewhat evilly.

We walked toward the square in general silence, both lost in our own thoughts. She was back to herself and that was a good thing. Normally her words would scare me, especially the part where she said that she had a bad feeling about today. Bridget was usually right when she had premonitions about something. But I was just glad to know she was back to normal.

When we arrived to the checkin point, I saw Arin and Abbey and waved them over. They were our friends and were both 16-year-old girls, so they would be staying with Bridget. I wanted her to get a chance to warm up to other people for the day before I had to leave her.

"Hey Arin, hey Abbey," Bridget and I said at the same time. We both smiled wolfish grins.

"Dude, that's just creepy when you do that," Arin said.

"Really creepy," Abbey added. "It's like you're psychic and it does not need to happen."

"Maybe we are," I said.

"And maybe we're not," Bridget added.

"But whether we are is for," I started.

"Us to know and you to not," Bridget finished.

"I hate when you guys say that," Arin said. "It's so stupid."

"Well yeah, but it's fun," I said.

At that moment, the Peace keepers got to our little group to check us in and started the process. When all four of us were past the table, I turned to the girls.

"See you ladies later," I said.

Arin and Abbey both said bye and Bridget have me a tight hug around my waist. "Watch yourself Efron," she said.

"I will Bridge," I responded. "You too, 'Kay?"

"I will," she promised.

Then we separated ways and went to our places. I went to stand with the 15-year-old boys and Bridge, Arin and Abbey went to stand with the 16-year-old girls. I was happy that Bridge was better now. Now I just had to make it through the reaping ceremony and hope that no one I knew got picked.

The Capitol official, the mayor and the victor training the pair for the year went up onto the stage. It became dead silent. The mayor began repeating something about the history of Panem that they say every year. No one ever truly listened. Then the official stepped up. This would be the stressing part. The actual reaping.

"Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor," the official began. "Now, laddies first this year." The amount of time it took for the official to cross to the big glass bowl with all of the names in it seemed to take forever. Everyone remained silent, waiting, dreading whose name would be pulled out. Would it be someone they knew, someone they cared for? Or even them?

The official fishes around in the bowl for what seemed like hours. When they finally snagged a name and took it back to the mic, it seemed to take another couple hours. Everything remained dead silent as they unfolded the slip of paper.

"And our male tribute for the year is," the official began. "Efron Miller."

Even though we were 300 yards away from each other, I still felt Bridget stiffen. She would not be happy at all. She would volunteer if I remained the tribute, I knew she would. She wasn't going to let me go in the arena alone.

I let the Peace keepers lead me up to the stage. I climbed the stairs with turmoil going through my head. I couldn't let her come with me. She couldn't come to the arena too.

The official waved me forward. "You're Efron?" They asked.

I swallowed and found my voice. "I am," I said in a steady voice.

"Very good," the official said smiling. "Are there any volunteers?" They turned back to the crowd. "No? All right. Time for our girl now."

While the official was crossing to the girls bowl, I found Bridget in the crowd. The look of fury in her eyes almost took my breath away. I could tell Arin and Abbey were almost having to hold her back because she was so angry. I steeled my own eyes and gave her a look that I knew she would understand. It was a look that meant that she had better not volunteer. In my heart though, I knew she would volunteer. There was nothing to really hold her here if I was in the arena, and especially if I died in there. I just hoped that she would listen. If only one of us went in, there was a slim chance that we could come home. If we both went, it was certain at least one of us would die.

The official came back to the mic with the girl's slip of paper. It didn't matter what was on it though. Everyone knew that whoever was on the paper, Bridget would be the one going.

The official unfolded the paper. "And our young lady for the year is," the official said. "Bridget Mariah."

I saw Bridge smile. This was too convenient for her. Now she could argue that she didn't volunteer, she was picked and she couldn't help that. No one would volunteer for her either. They knew she would be furious if they did. They knew she wanted to go to protect me.

When Bridget made it to the stage, the official asked if she was herself. She said yes and then the official asked if there were any volunteers. There were none. No surprise.

Then the official turned to the two of us. "Our tributes for the year, Efron Miller and Bridget Mariah!"

There was supposed to be applause, but not a single person clapped. They were still in shock that the drawing came out in such a way. That both Bridge and I had been chosen.

Then the flustered official said, "Well, um, let's have our tributes shake hands then."

I turned to Bridge and held out my hand. We both knew that we needed to downplay our relationship, or we would look weak and the other tributes would target both of us to get at the other. The Games didn't start in the arena. They started now.